Saturday, August 29, 2015

AC/DC appears to be strangely involved in the infamous AshleyMadison.com hack, as it was revealed in a recent press conference that when employees of the dating-by-way-of-infidelity website logged into their computers July 12, they were greeted to a message from the hackers accompanied by AC/DC's 1990 song "Thunderstruck." The band itself had nothing to do with the hacks, which became national news after compromising the privacy of over 33 million accounts and allegedly leading to two suicides. Avid Life Media offered a $500,000 reward to anyone providing information leading to the prosecution of the hackers behind the invasion, known as the Impact Team. "Thunderstruck," from AC/DC's 1990 album The Razors Edge, is one of the Aussie rockers' most iconic songs. - Billboard, 8/25/15...... A cover of The Who's "My Generation" will be featured on the new Alice Cooper and Johnny Depp-fronted band Hollywood Vampires, which will release its new self-titled album on Sept. 11. Devised by Cooper and Depp as a way to cover songs by "their dead friends and heroes," Hollywood Vampires also features Slash, Brian Johnson, Dave Grohl, Paul McCartney and Perry Farrell and includes renditions of songs by John Lennon, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, T Rex and Small Faces. - Billboard, 8/26/15...... Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh has told Billboard that he's been working on a memoir "for about a year" and that "some of it's really funny, some... is what happened [and] some of it is other people telling me what I did." Walsh, who would become the second Eagles member, after former guitarist Don Felder, to publish his experiences with the Grammy-winning band, added that "when it's done it will come out... it's kind of a big undertaking." In the meantime, Walsh will kick off a solo tour of North America on Oct. 17 in Boston with longtime collaborator Joe Vitale among his band members. He's promising to treat fans not only with such favorites as "Funk #49," "Rocky Mountain Way" and "Life's Been Good," but also deep cuts from his solo catalog. "I went back and went through my catalog, and there's a bunch of songs that a lot of people know but they weren't hits and didn't have radio presence," he said. "Everybody will hear what they're coming to hear, but in addition to that there'll be some stuff off Joe Walsh albums that people will go, 'Oh yeah, that one!'" He also says that the next Eagles tour will be different from the recently completed History of the Eagles tour: "We have to reinvent a new set and a new show and we've got to take some time off before we start doing that." - Billboard, 8/28/15...... Cable TV's Showtime network will premiere a new Jimi Hendrix special, Electric Church, on Sept. 4. The documentary will feature previously unreleased footage of Hendrix's appearance at 1970's Atlanta Pop Music Festival just weeks before his death, along with reminiscences by such superstars as Paul McCartney and Steve Winwood. Meanwhile, Netflix will begin streaming a new Keith Richards doc, Under the Influence, on Sept. 18. Directed by Oscar-winning documentarian Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom), the show follows the Rolling Stones guitarist as he lovingly explores his blues and country influences. - Billboard, 8/27/15...... A-list actresses Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Schumer helped Billy Joel make his Aug. 27 tour stop at Chicago's Wrigley Field unforgettable when the two divas shimmied barefoot on top of his grand piano during a rendition of his 1983 hit "Uptown Girl." Both Oscar-winning actress Lawrence and red hot comedian Schumer rehearsed their routine with the Piano Man in an empty Wrigley Field in the leadup to the big show. The two have jointly written a comedic screenplay for a new film in which they plan to co-star as siblings. "Uptown Girl" also features prominently in Schumer's latest film, Trainwreck. Joel's record-busting 2015 tour included a recent performance at Madison Square Garden in which he broke Elton John's record of 64 shows at the venue, and the final concert at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Long Island on Aug. 4. - Billboard, 8/28/15...... Patti Smith performed her seminal 1975 album Horses in its entirety on Aug. 26 at Electric Lady Studios in New York, in honor of the landmark recording facility's 45th anniversary. Smith injected humor into the event, which could have been sober considering the nature of the album, by joking about "flipping the record from side A to B" after wrapping a fiery "Free Money," and after mangling a word at the top of "Birdland" (which starts with, "His father died and left him a little farm in New England"), she told the band to start over and deadpanned, "His dad is gonna have to die again." Celebrities in attendance in the concert room included Liv Tyler, Dakota Johnson and Win Butler of Arcade Fire. - Billboard, 8/27/15...... Nile Rodgers of Chic was honored with the 2015 BMI Icon Award on Aug. 28. In attendance was Bernard Edwards Jr., the son of Rodgers' late Chic partner, which Rodgers says was "one of the proudest times for me." "Most people don't realize that Bernard's son is an incredible producer who goes by the name Focus and is doing so many great records," Rodgers said. Rodgers' career will be saluted again later in the year during BMI's annual R&B/Hip-Hop Awards, taking place at the Saban Theatre in Los Angeles. Rodgers, who's also crafted hits for Diana Ross and Madonnai n addition to collaborating with Daft Punk, Disclosure and Sam Smith, will begin a four-date tour with Duran Duran on Oct. 1 at the Hollywood Bowl. Rodgers says that a new Chic album, dubbed About Time, is "in the fourth quarter" and the LP is on course to be released in 2015. "We're down to recording the last three songs. I've been somewhat protective of it, like a child. But I've got to let it grow up," he said. - Billboard, 8/27/15...... German electronic rock pioneers Kraftwerk recently told Rolling Stone that they're translating their visual shows into an album with "3D sound" that will be released in late autumn on Blue-ray. "We've put a lot of work into all the images, transforming from our Kling Klang archives into 3D format and arranging it synchronised with the music, so it's quite a lot of production," says founding member Ralf Hutter. The performances will include those from the band's recent 3D tour, which travelled to venues including the Sydney Opera House, London's Tate Modern and the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Kraftwerk will kick off a fall tour of North America on Sept. 16 in Edmonton, and then visit cities they haven't played since 1975, including Portland, Austin and Kansas City. - New Musical Express, 8/27/15...... Former Faces drummer Kenney Jones says there's even more in store for fans from the group's vaults after the Aug. 28 release of the band's new five-disc box set, 1970-1975: You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything. "There's lots of stuff that we all have individually, especially live stuff," Jones says. "Ronnie Wood's got a lot, I've got a lot, I think Rod (Stewart) has got some. We also have some old backing tracks that would take awhile to dig out." In the meantime, You Can Make Me Dance... will give Faces fans plenty to digest with its treasure trove of outtakes, alternate and rehearsal versions, and live tracks from both concerts and BBC sessions. The surviving Faces recently announced they'll play a one-off charity gig for Prostate Cancer UK in Surrey on Sept. 5. - Billboard, 8/27/15...... In 1972, Leon Russell went into a Nashville studio to record Hank Wilson's Back. Documentary filmmaker Les Blank chronicled the sessions for the album and spent two years at Russell's lakeside compound in Oklahoma, taking a job at a place called Pappy Reeve's Floating Motel and Fish Camp while there. But the resulting film, A Poem Is a Naked Person, was rarely screened due to tensions between Russell and Blank, who died in 2013. ("I might have killed him," says Russell on why they didn't speak for decades.) Now, 43 years later, the movie is finally being released in selected American cinemas. With cameos from George Jones and Willie Nelson, and plenty of live footage of Russell, it's a fascinating portrait of one of the Seventies' great eccentrics. "He was a collector of the unusual," Russell says of Blank. "Me being the prime unusual beast." - Rolling Stone, 8/13/15...... Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, who was diagnosed with lymphoma in early 2012, recently took part in a cancer awareness campaign in his hometown of Birmingham, UK, by standing in a glass box with a two-way mirror to "highlight the loneliness felt by people diagnosed with cancer." Onlookers could see into the box but Iommi could not see out, instead hearing audio of personal stories from cancer sufferers. Iommi said the presentation reminded him of his own battle with the disease: "I was in a bubble for a while -- just like the isolation box." In April, Iommi responded to rumors that he was suffering from a cancer relapse after he pulled out of Black Sabbath's "farewell" tour. "Once you've had something like lymphoma the fear that it will return never leaves, all I can say is that right now I'm fine and have regular blood tests," he posted on Facebook. - New Musical Express, 8/27/15...... A grand piano used on many of Abba's biggest hits, including "Waterloo," "Dancing Queen" and "Money, Money, Money," is expected to fetch as much as $1.2 million when it is auctioned by Sotheby's in September. Designed by Sweden's Georg Bolin and owned by the Stockholm music studio where the '70s Swedish super-group often recorded, the piano will be auctioned in London on Sept. 29. - AP, 8/28/15...... Ahead of her upcoming tribute at the National Portrait Gallery's inaugural American Portrait Gala on Nov. 15 in Washington, D.C., Aretha Franklin says that she'd like to see her life story on Broadway. "I would like to see it be a dramatic musical," she says. "I loved 'The Motown Musical'; it was so great. I think the timing is very good now, especially behind 'Jersey Boys', Carole King ['Beautiful']. Gloria Estefan ['On Your Feet'] has come to Broadway now and why not Aretha?" Franklin added that she's in talks with a award-winning actress-director Marsha Mason to work on the production, who's "very amenable and would love to do it." In 2015, the Queen of Soul is also celebrating the 30th anniversary of her Grammy-winning album Who's Zoomin' Who and its Top 5 hit "Freeway of Love." "I liked 'Freeway,'" she says. "I really did like 'Freeway' and usually when I really like a song like that, people like it, too." - Billboard, 8/26/15...... Carlos Santana says he's close to finishing his new "Santana IV" project, which will reunite the members of the 1971-72 lineup of the band, as well as a new jazz fusion group called Supernova that will also include saxophonist Wayne Shorter, keyboardist Herbie Hancock and guitarist John McLaughlin. "Definitely spring recording and summer touring in Europe and maybe America," Santana says of the Supernova plan. "It's kind of like playing with, sharing music with Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, 'cause Wayne and Herbie, they're at that level of genius, genius, genius, genius," Santana says. "I'm just grateful that they accept it and want to do it. And every time I play with [his wife] Cindy [Blackman], it goes viral. People go crazy. The energy between Cindy and I is very, very supernova." Santana IV, meanwhile, will feature original Santana members Greg Rolie, Marcus Malone and Michael Carabello, as well as drummer Michael Shrieve, who joined in 1969, and Neal Schon, who was Santana's second guitarist during 1971-72 before forming Journey with Rolie. An album has been recorded and will be mixed during September and Santana expects to have the group on the road next year as well. Santana's regular band is currently on the road, with his son Salvador as special guest. He'll begin his next residency at the Las Vegas House of Blues on Sept. 16 and Santana also hopes to record "a whole album" with Ronald Isley and bassist Larry Graham, both old friends who he's recently been working with. - Billboard, 8/26/15...... Elvis Presley has earned his 53rd top 40 album on the Billboard 200 chart as the new compilation Elvis Presley Forever debuts at No. 11. The set, sold exclusively through the U.S. Postal Service, is Presley's highest-charting album since 2003, when Elvis: 2nd to None peaked at No. 3. The debuting album was released in conjunction with the promotion of Presley's new USPS commemorative stamp. Elvis Presley Forever also debuted at No. 1 on Billboard Top Rock Albums chart, which originated in 2006. - Billboard, 8/26/15...... A deluxe 45th reissue of the Velvet Underground's 1970 album Loaded is due on Oct. 30. Boasting 6 discs of material, including the original album remastered in stereo and mono, as well as previously-unreleased demos, outtakes and alternate mixes, the lush Re-Loaded 45th Anniversary Edition will also feature two live albums -- Live at Max's Kansas City and an unreleased (though widely bootlegged) set recorded in Philadelphia in 1970. The release follows 45th anniversary box sets for The Velvet Underground & Nico, White Light/White Heat and The Velvet Underground. - Billboard, 8/25/15...... The back catalog of Van Morrison, comprising some 33 album titles, has been acquired by Legacy Recordings in a career-spanning deal that encompasses 50 albums, videos and compilations and unlocks all of his albums for digital distribution, many for the first time. Most of the Morrison catalog has never been available for streaming, and many titles have been unavailable to download via the myriad digital music services. Legacy also has plans to issue physical releases. The new Legacy Van Morrison archive includes all of Morrison's solo works from 1971 to the present, including live works, plus the recordings made with his early-career rock band Them from 1964 through 1966. In time, Legacy Recording president Larry Block says the label plans to release a new career-spanning single CD compilation and deluxe Legacy Editions of classic Morrison solo albums. The rollout will include a 37-track anthology The Essential Van Morrison, which dropped on Aug. 28 as a two-disc CD album and in digital formats. Morrison, 70, signed a recording deal with RCA Record in late 2014, which yielded the release Duets: Re-Working The Catalogue. - Billboard, 8/25/15..... In a recent interview with the UK paper The Guardian,John Lennon and Yoko Ono's son Sean Lennon said he feels "no matter what I do, people see me as the spoiled slacker son of John and Yoko." "There's always going to be that element, and I kind of have to accept it and just do things anyway," added Sean, who is co-producing the next Fat White Family album as well as working with the group's side-project Moonlandingz. Sean said he has even considered releasing his projects under a pseudonym "to see what people's true reaction would be," but that would "be sort of disrespectful to my dad and my family and myself." "It's like, oh, well, I can't be proud of who I am? I didn't want to hide," he said. "The only reason I'm interested in art and music at all is because of my parents. Respect for them is at the heart of everything I do. It defines me. I consider myself a momma's boy, a poppa's boy -- I sort of hero-worshipped them as a child, then went to work making music on my own," he added. As for his dad's legacy, Sean says that his favorite Beatles music is "that period starting with Revolver -- when they were really pushing the limits of progressive songwriting." - NME, 8/25/15.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

The latest incarnation of the Grateful Dead, Dead & Company, has just added eight more gigs for their fall tour after previously announcing two Madison Square gigs in New York on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. Dead & Company, which is comprised of three quarters of the core Grateful Dead plus singer/guitarist John Mayer, will play Albany, N.Y. on Oct. 29, then after the MSG shows will hit Philadelphia (11/5), Washington, D.C. (11/6), Worcester, Mass. (11/10), and two nights in San Francisco and Los Angeles on Dec. 27 and 28 and Dec. 30 and 31, respectively. The Grateful Dead played three "Fare Thee Well" performances in Chicago in early July. - Billboard, 8/24/15...... Posting on Facebook on Aug. 19, Neil Young said his digital music download service Pono is looking for a business leader, and he hopes to expand it as more funds come in. "Pono is a labor of love, not some 21st century fake shallow Xerox facsimile, with all of the essence taken away and replaced by a thin exterior with no passionate core," the iconic singer/songwriter posted. "Music matters and sound matters. Not just any music or any sound. It needs to have all of its resonance, all of its echo, all of its soul and you can't get it from downgraded super compressed files which are so ubiquitous today. It has not been easy but we are doing what we love to do: making music sound GREAT," he added. Pono currently just has one venture capitalist, according to Young, and his company is searching for the right person who will share its vision. Pono's original Kickstarter campaign brought in over $6.2 million in 2014. Young added that Warner Music Group, Sony Music, Universal Music Group and independent record labels are working with Pono, and he listed several of the company's partners, including SalesForce, Ayre Acoustics, PCH and Omniphone, that are "enabling us to deliver hi-res proven provenance Pono music to our customers." - Billboard, 8/23/15...... In an interview with the UK's Uncut magazine, Paul McCartney revealed that he feared for his own life after his former Beatles bandmate John Lennon was assassinated in 1980. Sir Paul said he was on "high alert" after Lennon was killed by deranged gunman Mark Chapman, and that his own home in rural south England was still largely unprotected and in a remote woodland location. McCartney said he was left terrified days after the killing when he spotted several armed men advancing on the property. "It was weird because in the days that followed it, I was sitting in the house. We had a little perimeter fence, mainly to keep foxes out, because we had some chickens. I'm aware of security threats, so I'm on high alert and I look out and I see someone with a f---ing gun, like a machine gun, an assault rifle - 'Wha?!' He's in full military gear, and then I see there's a whole patrol of them. I'm going, 'Holy shit, what's going on?'." Macca added he doesn't recall exactly what he did: "I think I rang the police. It turned out to be army manoeuvres. (They said) 'Oh, sorry. Are these your woods?' I'd put two and two together and made a thousand. God, I don't know how I lived through it. You think you'd just faint dead on the ground. But they were all there, coming through these woods." - New Musical Express, 8/24/15...... The wife of late Jimi Hendrix drummer Mitch Mitchell is warning fans of the guitar legend to beware of fake memorabilia currently flooding online auction sites. Dee Mitchell claims most of the Hendrix items on sale now, including equipment, clothes, books and instruments, have been falsely attributed as having come "From The Estate of Mitch Mitchell" or from herself, and according to her most of them are "tacky, cheap rubbish" and advises collectors to "ask for plenty of authentication, dates, and a full provenance with loads of information" before making a purchase. "Any provenance from me would be detailed and packed with information" she said, and that potential buyers should "take great care not to buy anything which seems a bit dodgy." Mitch Mitchell was the drummer in Hendrix's Jimi Hendrix Experience, playing on the Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love and Electric Ladyland albums. - New Musical Express, 8/23/15...... The home of Kiss bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons was served by a search warrent by Los Angeles police on Aug. 20, however neither Simmons nor anyone in his family is suspected in the case. Lt. John Jenal of the LAPD says the warrant was served at Simmons' Benedict Canyon home near Beverly Hills, and that the 65-year-old Simmons and his family were "extremely cooperative" and none of them are suspected of a crime. Police would give no further comment on the investigation. Simmons and his family were the subject of a reality TV series that aired for several years. - AP, 8/21/15...... An attempt by one of late blues legend B.B. King's daughters to obtain her dad's medical records from an executor who she alleges mishandled her father's finances and health before he died was denied by a probate court commisioner in Las Vegas on Aug. 21. An attorney for King's estate maintained that Patty King was fishing for evidence to support false claims the musician's longtime business manager and power-of-attorney, LaVerne Toney, looted his accounts and hastened his death on May 14 at age 89. Toney is now executor of the estate. An autopsy by the Clark County coroner found no evidence to prove allegations by Patty King and her sister, Karen Williams, that their father had been poisoned. King died of Alzheimer's disease, plus physical conditions including coronary disease, heart failure and the effects of Type 2 diabetes, the coroner found. B.B. King was survived by Patty King and 10 other adult children, and family members count 35 grandchildren. Several lent support to a failed court effort to block Toney's appointment June 25 as executor of the estate. Outside court, King's lawyer promised to keep fighting to get the medical records, and characterized the judge's ruling as a setback on a procedural issue. - AP, 8/21/15...... '70s funnyman and Grammy-winning musician Steve Martin, who teamed up with singer Edie Brickell for a studio album in 2013 called Love Has Come For You, has announed he and Brickell will release a second album, So Familiar, on Oct. 30. Love Has Come For You sold over 100,000 copies in the U.S., rose to No. 1 on the Bluegrass albums chart, and its title track won Martin and Brickell a 2013 Grammy Award for best American roots song. Brickell -- who is married to Paul Simon -- is best known for her Top 5 album in 1998, Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars.So Familiar is produced by Peter Asher and will be released via Rounder Records. - Billboard, 8/20/15...... Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler has announed he will be performing with the country band Loving Mary in September at the inaugural Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival in Franklin, Tenn., outside Nashville on Sept. 26 and 27. The two-day fest will be held on a horse farm, with Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Wilco, Weezer and the Decemberists also headlining. The festival will likely be the first time Tyler fans can hear selections from his upcoming country-flavored solo record, which could be released as soon as this fall, though more likely in 2016. A single from the new LP, "Love is Your Name," hit No. 19 on Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. - AP, 8/20/15...... The children of late Mork & Mindy star Robin Williams have asked a judge to toss out claims on the comedian/actor's estate by his wife, Susan Williams, charging that Susan is "seeking to increase her share of the trust assets at the expense of the Williams children, despite the trust's clear language....She cannot do so." Susan Williams' Dec. 2014 petition asked the court to exclude the contents of the Tiburon, Calif., home that she shared with Williams from the jewelry, memorabilia and other items Williams said the children should have. In their Aug. 14 filing, Zachary, Zelda and Cody Williams contend the estate's trustees have determined the division of all of Williams' personal property, and those decisions are final. They accuse Susan Williams of holding on to property that is theirs. The two sides are set to appear in court Aug. 28. Williams hanged himself in the Tiboron home he shared with Susan in Aug. 2014. - AP, 8/20/15...... As the iconic 1969 Woodstock festival celebrates its 46th anniversary this August, the couple featured on the cover of the Woodstock soundtrack LP say the event is both "meaningful" and "phenomenal." Bobbi and Nick Ercoline were married two years after the photo was taken, and today they have two grown children. They reflect on the Bethel, N.Y., festival with both nostalgia and awe in their book: "All those people coming together with no violence, just peace, love and sharing." - Billboard, 8/19/15...... British pop singer Cliff Richard paid tribute to late singer and UK TV personality Cilla Black on Aug. 20 by singing at her funeral service in Liverpool at St. Mary's Church. Richard, a longtime friend of Black's, called her "a woman of commitment and dedication," adding: "She had the determination and above all she had the gift -- she was able to do what she set out to do." Richard opened the service by singing "Faithful One" from his 2004 album Something's Goin' On. Other guests included Tom Jones, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Christopher Biggins, Paul O'Grady and Carol Vorderman. Prior to her death, Black was sunbathing on the balcony at her villa in Estepona, Spain on Aug. 1 when she fell and hit her head. She was knocked unconscious by the fall and subsequently died of a stroke. She was 72. - NME, 8/20/15...... Actress Melody Patterson, best known as the character Wrangler Jane in the 1960's series F-Troop, died in a nursing home on Aug. 20 after multiple organ failure. She was 66. Patterson, a child actress, was only 16 when she debuted in F-Troop, and her character was said to be based on the 1953 Doris Day movie Calamity Jane. As Wrangler Jane, Patterson lustily pursued Captain Parmenter, played by Ken Berry. A running gag on the program had Jane kissing Parmenter, who avoided her affection by stating, "Jane, please, not in front of the men!" Patterson got the role by telling producers she would turn18 on her next birthday, but they did not find out her real age until after seven episodes had aired and she had already clicked with viewers .After the cancellation of F-Troop, Patterson appeared on radio, on stage, in films, and on TV, including several episodes of Hawaii Five-O, which featured her then husband James MacArthur. She also enjoyed appearing at F-Troop reunion gatherings, signing autographs for fans. - The Examiner, 8/21/15...... TV producer Bud Yorkin passed away Aug. 18 at age 89 in his L.A. home. Mr. Yorkin worked with Norman Lear on projects including All in the Family and Sanford and Son. - TV Guide, 8/31/15.

An upcoming addiction awareness rally and concert in Washington, D.C. will be headlined by Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler and Joe Walsh of the Eagles. Tyler and Walsh, who have both battled addiction issues in the past, will take part in the October free event at the National Mall aimed at raising awareness about people in need of help. The performers, also including Sheryl Crow, Jason Isbell, The Fray and John Rzeznik, will perform in between inspirational speakers who have been affected by addiction. "Unite To Face Addiction will mark the first time our nation will collectively stand up to addiction, a health problem that impacts one in three households," said Facing Addiction co-founder Greg Williams. - WENN.com, 8/19/15...... Smokey Robinson performed at New York's legendary Apollo Theater on Aug. 17 as part of the series Legends: OWN, which will be broadcast in October on the Oprah Winfrey Network. During a medley of love songs, Robinson told that crowd that "Ooh Baby Baby" developed from a mistake during a medley of love songs -- a surprising origin story for one of pop's greatest odes to heartbreak. And he introduced "Tracks Of My Tears" by saying he originally debuted the song live with his old group The Miracles at the Apollo. The four-hour set also included some of his biggest smashes, including "You Really Got A Hold On Me," "Second That Emotion," "Being With You," and "My Girl." - Billboard, 8/18/15...... Meanwhile, Robinson's fellow Motown legend Stevie Wonder performed a surprise pop-up concert also on Aug. 17 at Central Park's SummerStage in New York to promote the extension of his Songs In the Key of Life Performance tour for an additional (and final) 21 U.S. dates. Wonder treated the crowd to a generous eight-song helping from the smash 1976 double-LP (only 2-3 were promised pre-show), including classics "Sir Duke," "I Wish" and "As." Between songs, he made jokes and ad-libs, and even used his stage time to address such timely social issues as gun control, bullet accountability, police brutality and the underprivileged. The 20-date final extension of the Songs in the Key of Life Tour will begin on Sept. 30 in Montreal and hit such cities as Washington (10/3), Philadelphia (10/7), Toronto (10/9), Chicago (10/16), Pittsburgh (10/19), Kansas City (10/23), Indianapolis (11/7), Charlotte (11/14 and Detroit (11/24) before wrapping in New York's Madison Square Garden on Nov. 24. - Billboard, 8/18/15...... In still more Motown-related news, Lionel Richie has been named the 2016 MusiCares Person of the Year. Pharrell Williams, Lady Antebellum and Luke Bryan will be on hand to honor the legendary singer/songwriter and former Commodores member at the benefit MusiCares gala on Feb. 13, 2016 in Los Angeles, just two nights before the Grammy Awards. Richie, a tireless supporter of various causes, from AIDS awareness to human rights and famine, poverty, human trafficking and women's issues, will be bestowed the prestigious award in recognition of his "significant creative accomplishments" and for his career-spanning charitable work. "I'm really very proud of this," said Richie in a statement. "As far as I'm concerned, this is the highest honor in our music business because it means you have a career." MusiCares provides financial and medical help to musicians in need. - Billboard, 8/18/15...... The Beatles' first recording contract for a 1961 session that produced the single "My Bonnie" will be auctioned by Heritage Auctions in New York on Sept. 19, with the bidding expected to go as high as $150,000. The six-page contract is being sold by the estate of Uwe Blaschke, a German graphic designer and noted Beatles historian who died in 2010. The Beatles honed their craft playing in the boisterous nightclub district of Hamburg, and "My Bonnie" was released only in Germany without success. But the tune is still important in Beatles lore in that it led directly to a recording contract with the UK's EMI in 1962 and their first hit, "Love Me Do." "Without this contract all of the pieces wouldn't have fallen into place," said Dean Harmeyer, Heritage's consignment director for music memorabilia. "My Bonnie," which was recorded with Tony Sheridan singing lead, was credited to "Tony Sheridan and the Beat Boys" because German record producer Bert Kaempfert felt the name "Beatles" would not cut it with Germans. The contract is a the centerpiece of a Beatles collection being auctioned by Heritage that spans the band's entire career, including a 1962 autographed copy of "Love Me Do," the band's first single recorded with Ringo Starr, and a Swiss restaurant menu card signed by the Beatles while they were filming Help! in 1965. - AP, 8/19/15...... A GoFundMe.com campaign started by the satiric website Clickhole has raised over $1500 to send Bob Dylan "a nice bed." Clickhole, an offshoot of The Onion, noted that for 50 years Dylan "has given us everything while asking nothing in return" and "we think it's about time that America said 'thank you' for all his contributions to our ears and our hearts." "Hence, we have started this GoFundMe page with the goal of purchasing Bob a brand-new Sleep Number adjustable bed," the messages continues. "This includes a classic c2 Sleep Number mattress, a sturdy modular base, and an intuitive wireless remote for adjusting the bed's firmness." Having raised a total of $1,555, Clickhole claimed that they've shipped the bed to Dylan. "Bob's bed officially shipped over the weekend," a message posted to Facebook read. The campaign predictably attracted some outraged comments, with one user posting: "You idiots do know that Bob Dylan is worth millions, right? He can probably afford his own fricking bed. Donate your money to someone who actually needs it." - New Musical Express, 8/18/15...... Cable TV's CMT channel will premiere a new Johnny Cash documentary entitled Johnny Cash: American Rebel on Sept. 12 at 9:00 p.m. EDT. The release will combine never-before-seen interviews with Cash's friends and family, including Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Kris Kristoffeson, Sheryl Crow and Kid Rock, archival concert footage, and personal mementos from his life. The documentary also marks the first time Cash's children John Carter Cash and Rosanne Cash, as well as June Carter's daughter Carlene Carter, appear together in a film about him. - Billboard, 8/18/15...... Elton John has spoken out against Venice, Italy mayor Luigi Brugnaro for removing books from schools that feature same-sex families. Brugnaro, who was elected in June, made headlines by banning 49 children's books that made reference to gay marriage from schools, claiming that they are "not suitable for pre-school children" and justified his action by saying that his predecessors had imposed their "personal view of society" onto school kids. Posting on Instagram, John described Brugnaro as "the extremely silly looking mayor of Venice." "Instead of encouraging a world based on inclusiveness, tolerance and love, [Brugnaro is] championing a future society that's divisive and fosters ignorance... beautiful Venice is indeed sinking, but not as fast as the boorishly bigoted Brugnaro," Elton said. - New Musical Express, 8/18/15...... Tom Jones blasted BBC execs in recent Facebook and Twitter posts for dropping him from the fifth season of the BBC's The Voice U.K. with no notice. "In good faith, as part of the team, I'd put the time in my schedule to be involved in Series 5, as I've done so for the last 4 years," Jones posted. "I've supported the show and the BBC since the beginning. I was told yesterday, with no consultation or conversation of any kind, that I would not be returning... This sub-standard behavior from the executives is very disappointing," he added. The BBC said Jones was never promised to keep his role as a coach and the decision on next season's lineup of coaches came only on Aug. 13, and Jones' team was informed before a press announcement to avoid a press leak. - The Hollywood Reporter, 8/18/15...... Kiss bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons was joined by the band Extreme and actor Johnny Depp for a fundraising concert on Aug. 16 for MendingKids.org, an organization that provides hundreds of free corrective surgeries each year for children around the world. Simmons, a supporter of MendingKids.org for several years, took the stage last and invited anyone with $1,000 to donate to the organization to come up and sing with the band. About 10 donors took him up on the offer, including his son and daughter, and they shared the stage with him, Depp and the rest of the band during the closing number, the Kiss hit "Rock and Roll All Nite." - AP, 8/17/15...... Brian Eno has been announced as the guest speaker for this year's John Peel Lecture, set for Sept. 27 during the Radio Academy's Radio Festival at the British Library in London. The annual event, named after influential Radio 1 DJ John Peel, sees a keynote speaker sharing their views on issues relating to the music industry and its wider culture. Eno said that Peel had "a profound effect on my musical life and indeed my becoming a musician at all... His career as a non-musician who altered the course of music has been an inspiration to me and forms the basis of this talk." - NME, 8/18/15...... Former Deep Purple frontman Glenn Hughes will kick off a 10-date solo tour of the U.K. on Oct. 17 in Southampton, also visiting cities including Norwich (10/19), Newcastle (10/20), Belfast (10/22), Glasgow (10/23), Holmfirth (10/25), Bilston (10/26), York (10/28) and Manchester (10/29) before wrapping at London's Electric Ballroom on Nov. 1. Hughes will be backed by drummer Pontus Engborg and ex-Whitesnake guitarist Doug Aldrich and showcase highlights from his career including his stints in Deep Purple, Trapeze, Black Country Communion and California Breed, along with his solo material. - Noble PR, 8/19/15...... Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter announced on Aug. 12 that he has cancer, which was discovered during a recent liver surgery. The 90-year-old senior statesman and 39th president underwent surgery Aug. 3 to remove a mass in his liver. "A more complete public statement will be made when facts are known, possibly next week," said Carter, who was president from 1977-1980. He will undergo treatment at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta. The former president, a 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner, has maintained an active post-presidency through the Carter Center. He travels frequently and has generally maintained good health at his advanced age. - USA Today, 8/13/15...... Prolific music producer Bob Johnston, who helmed such iconic albums as Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde and Johnny Cash's At Folsom Prison, died in Austin, Tex., on Aug. 14. He was 83. Mr. Johnston first got into production work for Kapp and Dot Records before working for Columbia. Mr. Johnston also produced the Dylan albums John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, Self Portrait and New Morning and is the "Bob" that Dylan is talking to when he asks, "Is it rolling, Bob?" at the start of the song "To Be Alone With You," on Nashville Skyline. He also played an integral role in the creation of many of Johnny Cash's albums, and worked on Simon & Garfunkel's Sounds of Silence and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme,Leonard Cohen's Songs of Love and Hate and more. More recently, as an independent producer, he worked with Willie Nelson on The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories? in the '90s. - Billboard, 8/15/15...... Longtime civil rights activist and former NAACP chairman Julian Bond died on Aug. 15 in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., after a brief illness. He was 75. Bond, who first came on the national scene in the 1960s as a student activist, brought the NAACP back to credibility during his longtime chairmanship. After serving in the Georgia House, Bond spent six terms in the Georgia Senate, from 1975 to 1986. In 1968, he led a delegation to the Democratic National Convention and became the first black American to be nominated for vice president, but he had to withdraw because he was too young. In 1998, he took over as chairman of the then-troubled NAACP, with 500,000 members, and served until 2010. He was also president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Montgomery, Ala., from its founding in 1971 to 1979 and was later on its board of directors. "(Julian) advocated not just for African Americans, but for every group, indeed every person subject to oppression and discrimination, because he recognized the common humanity in us all," said SPLC co-founder Morris Dees in a statement. - USA Today, 8/16/15...... Actress Yvonne Craig, best known as "Batgirl" in the classic '60s TV series Batman, passed away at her home in Pacific Palisades, Calif., on Aug. 17 of complications brought about from breast cancer that had metastasized to her liver. She was 78. Craig began her theatrical career as the youngest member of The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and toured for three years when she was accidentally discovered by John Ford's son Patrick and cast for the lead in the movie The Young Land. This led to many roles in film and television, including two Elvis Presley movies, It Happened at the World's Fair and Kissin' Cousins. However, she is probably best known for her role as Batgirl in the 1966 series Batman, or for her character Marta from the third season of Star Trek, in the episode "Whom Gods Destroy" where she played the well remembered insane green Orion Slave Girl who wanted to kill Captain Kirk. Her other TV credits include The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Six Million Dollar Man, Land of the Giants, Mod Squad, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Love American Style, Emergency and Courtship of Eddie's Father, among many others. She then embarked on a real estate career and with her sister Meridel went into the prepaid phone card business at its inception producing phone cards for charitable events. In 2000, she wrote a book of anecdotal memoirs, From Ballet to the Batcave and Beyond, which covered some of her years in the ballet and her theatrical career. - YvonneCraig.com, 8/17/15.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

A family dispute of the estate of Jimi Hendrix was settled out of court on Aug. 14, according to the Seattle Times. Experience Hendrix LLC owns the rights to the Hendrix estate and is controlled by Janie Hendrix, the guitarist's adopted sister, with HendrixLicensing.com, which is operated by Leon Hendrix, his brother. Leon had been fighting Janie in court since Hendrix died in 1970 without a will. When Hendrix's father, James "Al" Hendrix, died in 2002, he left the estimated $80 million estate to Janie Hendrix. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed. - AP, 8/14/15..... Two new CD releases of the late Roy Orbison's recordings for MGM records will be released by Universal Music Enterprises. The 153-song The MGM Years will feature all of the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer's albums plus a rarities compilation, while One of the Lonely Ones is an unreleased 12-track album recorded in 1969 but shelved due to what his son Alex Orbison calls "a logjam of releases" and some financial issues with the label. Orbison -- who died of a heart attack Dec. 6, 1988 at the age of 52 -- signed his deal with MGM in June 1965, just 11 months after "Oh, Pretty Woman" became his second No. 1 hit. - Billboard, 8/14/15...... A new Elvis Presley postage stamp was launched on Aug. 12 with the help of Presley's ex-wife, Priscilla Presley, and Postmaster General Megan Brennan in a dedication ceremony on the front lawn of Presley's Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tenn. Featuring a black-and-white image of the iconic rock 'n' roller, the "Elvis Presley Forever" stamp is part of the Postal Service's "Music Icons" series and shares the same name of a new Elvis 18-track CD compilation that is also being sold through the USPS. The following day, the stamp went on sale in Presley's hometown of Tupelo, Miss., with a dedication ceremony at Elvis' boyhood home. In other Elvis news, a West Tennessee woman who was his private nurse from 1972 until 1983 has released a book about her life while in Presley's employ. Letetia Henley Kirk, now 73, lived on the grounds of Graceland with her husband and two young daughters from 1972 to 1983 and often traveled with the star on tour. Taking Care of Elvis -- Memories with Elvis as His Private Nurse and Friend, is a collection of short stories. It also includes dozens of previously unpublished photos. Meanwhile, a personalized handgun once owned by Presley was auctioned off in Memphis during Elvis Week, which commemorates his death on August 16, 1977. The singer's Walther PPK handgun engraved with the star's name and TCB in memory of his band sold for $96,000, while a diamond and gold pendant given to Sammy Davis, Jr. brought in $40,000. A suit he wore in the movie It Happened At The World's Fair went for $25,000, and his U.S. Army sewing kit garnered a winning bid of $2,750. - AP/New Musical Express, 8/13/15...... The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has announced it will kick off a year-long 50th anniversary tour with a special performance at the historic Ryman Theater in Nashville on Sept. 14 with special guests including former member Jimmy Ibbotson along with Jackson Browne, Vince Gill and Sam Bush and Vince Gill. "To kick things off at the Ryman and to have all these amazing artists that are our pals showing up to play music with us and to celebrate the occasion is overwhelming and actually very humbling," said founding member Jeff Hanna. "As we've crept up on this date, we are very grateful that we have had the fans that we've had and to have played for the fans that we have over the years," he added. The show will be taped for a PBS special and is scheduled to air in March of 2016. After that, Hanna says the band plans to keep the celebration going with a 50th Anniversary tour. - Billboard, 8/13/15...... In a new interview with Classic Rock magazine, Pink Floyd singer/guitarist David Gilmour confirmed that he's "done" with Pink Floyd. "I'm done with it. I've had 48 years in Pink Floyd -- quite a few of those years at the beginning, with Roger (Waters)," Gilmour said. "And I certainly don't want to let the other five per cent color my view of what was a long and fantastic time together. But it has run its course, we are done -- and it would be fakery to go back and do it again." Gilmour, 69, will release a new solo LP, Rattle that Lock, on Sept. 18, and embark on a rare solo tour of shows in North America in early 2016. Pink Floyd released what they said was their last album, The Endless River, in 2014. In other Pink Floyd news, former member Roger Waters has confirmed to an Israeli newspaper that he's writing his autobiography, and plans to mount a world tour during 2016. Waters' new concert film, Roger Waters - The Wall, will be released in theaters worldwide for one day only on Sept. 29. The film featurs previously unseen concert footage and follows Waters' personal experience on the road and the events that led to his own strong anti-war sentiments. - Billboard/NME, 8/14/15...... Ted Nugent offered his thoughts on such headline-making personalities as presidential candidate Donald Trump and Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly during an interview with radio station WIBX on Aug. 12. "I'm a big fan of Donald Trump because I believe in bold, aggressive, unapologetic truth -- period," Nugent announced, saying although he was annoyed by Kelly's questioning tactics during the recent debate, he "often turns on Fox just to look at her." "Sometimes when I'm loading my magazines I like to just look at her! I usually sit naked on the couch dropping hot brass on my stuff," he revealed. Meanwhile, for those who would like to see The Nuge himself become the leader of the free world, "Ted Nugent for President" bumperstickers can be purchased on his official website for $9.99. - Billboard, 8/13/15...... Iconic '70s comedian, movie star and Grammy-winning banjo player Steve Martin will be honored by the International Bluegrass Music Association with a distinguished achievement award in Raleigh, N.C., on Oct. 1. Martin, 69, has become a bluegrass ambassador by introducing fans of his film and television work to the genre through his performances and albums with Edie Brickell and the Steep Canyon Rangers. Martin tweeted his thanks to the IBMA for the honor on Aug. 12. - AP, 8/12/15...... Deep Purple will release a pair of concert albums -- From The Setting Sun...(In Wacken) and ...To The Rising Sun (In Tokyo) -- on Sept. 18. The albums consist of material from the band's 2014 performances at the Wacken Festival in Germany and the Budokan in Japan, respectively. Both titles will be released on CD and DVD, with the Tokyo set also available on Blu-ray and the Wacken on Blu-ray 3D. Both releases feature the "Mk. VIII" edition of Deep Purple, which is the longest-lived lineup of the band (since 2002). Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover says the band has already had one recording session this year, during February and March, to come up with material for a follow-up to 2014's Now What?!, which was the group's first new album in eight years. After wrapping its summer tour, the band has more recording time planned for Feb. 2016. - Billboard, 8/12/15...... Billy Joel and his fourth wife, Alexis Joel, welcomed a baby girl into the world on the morning of Aug. 12, according to Joel's official site. Named Della Rose, the baby weighed in at 7 lbs., 6.5 oz., and is the stepsister of Alexa Jay Joel, Joel's daughter with model and ex-wife Christie Brinkley. In July, Joel broke the record for most solo performances at Madison Square Garden, an honor previously held by Elton John. - Billboard, 8/12/15...... Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates and his second wife, Amanda Aspinall, have filed papers in a Connecticut court to end their marriage. While the couple have no children together, Aspinall's two children from a previous relationship, March and Orson, lived with the couple at its Connecticut estate, and March even appeared on Hall's 2011 solo album, Laughing Down Crying. Hall was previously married to Bryna Lublin from 1969 to 1972, and he also enjoyed a relationship with songwriter Sara Allen for over 30 years before their split in 2001. - WENN.com, 8/13/15...... Patti Smith's latest memoir, Just Kids, will become a limited series on cable network Showtime, the punk poetess announced in a press release on Aug. 11. "A limited series on Showtime will allow us to explore the characters more deeply, enabling us to develop stories beyond the book and allow a measure of unorthodox presentation," Smith said. "The medium of a television limited series offers narrative freedom and a chance to expand upon the themes of the book." - The Hollywood Reporter, 8/11/15...... Former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty will join the hit NBC series The Voice in the upcoming season as an advisor to coach Adam Levine. Also on the new season, Selena Gomez will join coach Gwen Stefani, Missy Elliot will mentor for Pharrell, and Brad Paisley will advise Blake Shelton's singers. - Billboard, 8/10/15...... Aretha Franklin has announced she will be canceling her Aug. 14 show in Las Vegas due to exhaustion. The 73-year-old Queen of Soul said in a statement dated Aug. 11 that she has to reschedule the planned performance at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace after driving her bus from Detroit to the West Coast for concerts. "I thank all of my fans, friends and supporters who bought tickets. I hope to see you all soon," she said. - AP, 8/11/15...... Marvin Gaye III, the son of late soul great Marvin Gaye, is reportedly preparing to sue the producers of the Fox TV show Empire, claiming he had the idea for a similar-sounding series years ago. According to TMZ, Gaye III claims he registered a treatment for a show about a black family in the music business -- think Dynasty with a hint of Sopranos -- to the Writers Guild of America in 2010. Gaye III's show, titled Diamonds & Ballads, was said to have been shopped to various television executives, including ones with ties to Empire co-creator Lee Daniels, who said last year that he "wanted to make a black Dynasty." Empire recently won TV Program of the Year at the TCA Awards in Beverly Hills. - Billboard, 8/10/15...... The new Grateful Dead spinoff band Dead & Company has added a second show to its upcoming Halloween concert at Madison Square Garden. Due to strong demand, the band will play a second show on Nov. 1. The Grateful Dead wrapped its "Fare Thee Well" concerts in early July. Dead & Company is comprised of the Core 4 -- Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann and Bob Weir -- along with longtime fan and collaborator John Mayer. - Billboard, 8/10/15...... Hollywood Vampires, a new band featuring Alice Cooper and actor Johnny Depp, has announced it will play two live dates in September. The band will perform twice in Los Angeles, at the Roxy on Sept. 16 and 17, and at the Rock In Rio festival in Brazil in September following the release of their self-titled debut album on Sept. 11. The new album features a host of special A-list guests, including Paul McCartney and Dave Grohl, and includes renditions of songs by John Lennon, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, T Rex and Small Faces. - New Musical Express, 8/12/15...... Actress Melissa Gilbert of The Little House on the Prairie fame announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for a Michigan congressional seat on Aug. 10, saying "fresh voices" are needed to help improve the economy for people who have fallen behind. Gilbert, 51, moved to Michigan from California in 2013 after marrying actor Timothy Busfield, and will be seeking the nomination for the state's 8th congressional district, which stretches across three counties from the northern Detroit suburbs to the state capital of Lansing and has been in GOP hands for 15 years. First-term Republican Rep. Mike Bishop of Rochester won the seat in 2014 after then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers decided not to seek re-election. Gilbert, who has never held public office, campaigned for Michigan gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer and was president of the Screen Actors Guild from 2001-05 after playing Laura Ingalls on Little House in the 1970s and 1980s. A spokesman for Rep. Bishop said in a statement that Gilbert's "values are out of whack with the district." - AP, 8/11/15.

Billy Joel headlined the final concert at Long Island's Nassau Coliseum on Aug. 5 before the venue closes for a major renovation. Introduced to the stage by his longtime friend, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (whose goodbye to the stadium was met with some boos), Joel opened with his 1977 hit "Movin' Out" for his 32nd and final time at the current venue. Joel, a native of Long Island, grew up in nearby Hicksville. He similarly played the last concerts at Shea Stadium when it closed in 2008. - AP, 8/9/15...... Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played a proper farewell to departing The Daily Show host Jon Stewart on Aug. 6 by performing a version of "Land of Hope and Dreams" which segued into "Born to Run," with members of the show's staff and correspondents dancing along for the finale. "Thanks for everything, Jon," said Springsteen before bursting into the song. "We wish you happy and safe travels." Stewart, who was born in New York but grew up in Lawrenceville, NJ, was clearly moved at the end of the show. "Nothing ends, it's just a continuation...a pause in the conversation," said a touched Stewart, who called the performance his "moment of zen." - Billboard, 8/7/15...... The Washington Post newspaper is reporting that Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler was in attendance at the much-ballyhooed Republican presidential debate in Cleveland, Oh., on Aug. 6, and went as a guest of controversial candidate, Donald Trump. The other members of Aerosmith accompanied Tyler at the debate, and the band was in Cleveland to play at the following day's Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony in nearby Canton. Tyler's rep told People magazine: "Steven Tyler is a bipartisan advocate on issues that he is passionate about. Why wouldn't he support the Republican debates? Some of his closest allies in Washington, D.C. on copyright reform are Republican. He believes many things can be accomplished when you get along with everyone and work across party lines." Meanwhile, Aerosmith ended its 2015 summer "Blue Army Tour" at the first-ever Concert For Legends at the Pro Football HOF's Enshrinement Festival, the night before the shrine's class of 2015 was inducted." I consider every gig we play a special gig...," guitarist Joe Perry said. "But any time there's something like this, that raises it above, it's great. There's a first involved, and we're gonna get to meet some guys that I've looked up to and admired over the years. That's a pretty amazing thing." Perry added with "all the different projects going on on the side" (including Tyler's upcoming country-flavored album), that he doesn't think "there's gonna be room in there for any kind of, like, full-blown studio album," but "these days a lot of that doesn't matter; you can record in a hotel room, for chrissakes, and throw it online and there you go, there's some new material. That may be more likely for us than doing the whole big studio thing, so we'll see." - Billboard, 8/7/15...... In a new interview with Esquire magazine, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards says the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album is a "mishmash of rubbish." The guitarist, known for never betraying his thoughts on a subject, said that there's "not a lot of roots" in the Beatles' music and slammed the George Martin-produced recorded music landmark, which was released back in 1967. "I think they got carried away. Why not? If you're the Beatles in the '60s, you just get carried away -- you forget what it is you wanted to do. You're starting to do Sgt. Pepper. Some people think it's a genius album, but I think it's a mishmash of rubbish, kind of like [the Rolling Stones album] Satanic Majesties -- "Oh, if you can make a load of shit, so can we." Richards is currently promoting his first solo album in 23 years, Crosseyed Heart. - Billboard, 8/6/15...... The three surviving members of the '70s rock band the Faces -- Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood and Kenney Jones -- have announed they will play a one-off reunion concert for a charity gig in September. The trio will reunite to headline the Rock 'n' Horsepower event at Surrey's Hurtwood Park Polo Club. The annual event benefits Prostate Cancer UK and is organised by Stewart and Jones. It celebrates its third year in 2015. "The years of the Faces were some of the best of my life and I'm so proud to have been a part of the band," drummer Kenney Jones said in a statement. "I'm unbelievably excited to have the opportunity to get up on stage with Rod and Ronnie again." The Faces last reunited in 2010 with Simply Red's Mick Hucknall on lead vocals in place of Stewart and played a headline set at the Vintage at Goodwood Festival. That line-up of the band then went on tour in 2011. On Aug. 28, the band releases 1970-1975: You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything, a new vinyl box set that compiles their four studio albums, as well as a fifth disc of non-LP singles. - New Musical Express, 8/5/15...... Led Zeppelin's latest batch of remastered reissues, Presence,In Through the Out Door and Coda, will likely all make the top 10 of Billboard's Hot 200 albums chart for the week ending Aug. 22. The three albums were originally released in 1976, 1979 and 1982, respectively. Presence and In Through the Out Door both reached No. 1 previously, while Coda peaked at No. 6. The trio of albums -- reissued on July 31 through Swan Song/Atlantic Records -- could each move around 25,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Aug. 6. Meanwhile in the UK, the three albums are also on track to achieve similar success, reaching the Top 20 in the Official UK Albums Chart. Coda (9), Presence (10) and In Through The Out Door (12) all made the Top 20. - Billboard/New Musical Express, 8/6/15...... Sony Pictures Classics has acquired actor Don Cheadle's directorial debut Miles Ahead, which focuses on the final days in the life of jazz great Miles Davis, played by Cheadle in the film. The movie, for which Sony Pictures Classics took worldwide rights covering most territories, has been selected to screen as the closing night film at the upcoming New York Film Festival on Oct. 11. - The Hollywood Reporter, 8/6/15...... The B52s singer and keyboardist Kate Pierson married her long-time partner, Monica Coleman, on Aug. 4 in Hawaii. B-52s frontman and founding member Fred Schneider reportedly delivered the best man speech. Pierson, a founding member of the quirky Athens, Ga., band, released a solo album in February. - Billboard, 8/5/15...... Sony/BMG announced on Aug. 4 that a new Elvis Presley album with orchestral backing by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on songs like "Burning Love" and "Love Me Tender" will be released this fall. Presley's ex-wife, Priscilla Presley said If I Can Dream: Elvis Presley with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was conceived during discussions she had with producer Don Reedman while she was in London acting in a play two years ago. The disc, recorded in London's famed Abbey Road studio, is due Oct. 30. Presley's estate earned $55 million for the year ending Oct. 2014, second only to Michael Jackson. - AP, 8/5/15...... An announcement on ZZ Top's official website on Aug. 9 says frontman Billy Gibbons will release his first solo album on Concord Records in October. It also suggests the new LP will be a bilingual record with "Afro-Cuban flavor." As a teen, Gibbons took Latin percussion classes from Tito Puente, who was a friend of his bandleader father, Freddie Royal. In 2014 he was invited to Havana to perform at the Havana Jazz Festival and although he didn't wind up going, he says Cuban music inspired the new album, which was recorded in his Houston studio, and in Los Angeles, Austin and Spain. The album's fantasy Spanish title, Perfectamundo, is taken from a word popularized by Fonzie on the classic Happy Days TV show. But the album includes tracks sung in actual Spanish, and songs that are a mix of Cuban and other Latin styles with music Gibbons' fans would more likely expect. - Billboard, 8/9/15...... Appearing on a New Zealand TV show on Aug. 9, drummer Phil Rudd of AC/DC said that he intends to rejoin AC/DC for upcoming live shows and says he "has a lot of game left." "I've got a lot to think about now, I've grown up, but not grown old. I hope there's a difference. I still want to play the drums. I've got a lot of game left and I reckon I'm just starting to get cleared up. So I just want a chance to get back in with the boys and just carry on from there," Rudd said. Rudd added that he has "no idea what [replacement drummer Chris Slade is] doing up there. I've got nothing against Chris. He hasn't got a permanent job -- I hope. I'm the man." On July 9, Rudd was sentenced to eight months of home detention for possession of methamphetamine and marijuana and threats to kill. Rudd has not played live with AC/DC since his arrest but did record new album with them. He was replaced on the band's current world tour by Slade. - New Musical Express, 8/9/15...... The '60s pop band The Zombies, whose members include Rod Argent of the '70s group Argent, have announced plans to release a new album, Still Got That Hunger, on Oct. 9 via The End Record. It's the Zombies' first album in four years and just sixth overall in a career that stretches back to the 1960s. Meanwhile, the surviving members of the band to work on 1968 album Odessey & Oracle -- Argent, singer Colin Blunstone, bass player Chris White and drummer Hugh Grundyis -- are preparing to tour behind the record in a series of US dates this September and October. - NME, 8/8/15...... Former New York Giants NFL quarterback and sports broadcasting legend Frank Gifford died on Aug. 9 of natural causes at his home in Connecticut. He was 84. A college star at USC and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Mr. Gifford worked on ABC's NFL Monday Night Football broadcasts from 1971 until 1998, serving as the steady play-by-play/straight man while sharing the booth with partners that included Howard Cosell and "Dandy" Don Meredith. When ABC started the Monday night franchise in 1970, it was Keith Jackson doing the play-by-play opposite Meredith, a former Dallas Cowboys quarterback, and Cosell, a bombastic, egotistical former lawyer. However, ABC Sports chairman Roone Arledge was dissatisfied with that team's chemistry, and for the second season he sought a contrast to Cosell and brought in Mr. Gifford. In 1995, Mr. Gifford was the recipient of the Pete Rozelle Award, which acknowledged his exceptional longtime contributions to radio and TV in pro football. Mr. Gifford, who won an Emmy Award as TV's Outstanding Sports Personality for 1976-77, also hosted ABC's Wide World of Sports programs and ABC Sports specials like Battle of the Network Stars. He covered the 1972, 1976 and 1984 Summer Olympics as well as the 1976, 1980 and 1984 Winter Games. Mr. Gifford also served as a guest host of ABC's Good Morning America, pairing with Joan Lunden when David Hartman was away, and he appeared regularly on the program during the football season with reports. In 1968, Mr. Gifford played himself in the NFL comedy Paper Lion, and he had cameos as himself in Two-Minute Warning (1976), Viva Knievel (1977) and Jerry Maguire (1996). He also appeared on such TV shows as Hazel, Captain Kangaroo, The Six Million Dollar Man, Coach, Webster and Spin City. In addition to writing several magazine articles on sports and sportscasting, Mr. Gifford authored several books, including 1976's Gifford on Courage, about the 10 most courageous athletes he knew. He is survived by his third wife, former Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee host Kathie Lee Gifford, who now serves as a co-host on the fourth hour of NBC's Today show. - The Hollywood Reporter, 8/9/15.

In a new interview with The Daily Beast website, Jimmy Page said that he "can't foresee" a Led Zeppelin reunion any time soon because the surviving band members can't agree on the right reasons to get back together. "We tried it a few times. It always seemed to be done in a hurry and it never worked. That's why the O2 show was done with such intent," Page said of the band's huge London gig in 2007. "We rehearsed loads so that Jason [Bonham] -- John's son -- felt like he was part of the band and not just some novelty. We all needed it to be that way. But I can't foresee doing it again, because we all have to agree and agree for the right reasons." Although Page has expressed interest in playing with a reformed Led Zeppelin in recent years, and rumors of a lucrative reunion tour have remained constant, Page appears to have admitted defeat with his latest statement. Earlier in 2015, Page said he was interested in some kind of live return but that he needed to get "match fit" before he can peform again. "The one thing I haven't been seen to be doing recently is playing guitar," he said. "So now I've got the opportunity to put all my drive into playing the guitar and working out what way to present myself next." He has also said he plans to pursue a "new project" now that his remastering sessions for Led Zeppelin's final three albums -- Presence, In Through the Out Door and Coda -- have been completed. "I think it's safe to assume that will be a new project. I don't know who with yet because I haven't had a chance to work on it, but I've got material that's written I want to revisit and well, it's an exciting time," he said. In Sept. 2014, Page hinted he plans to start a new group, with the aim of playing career-spanning tracks from his back catalog. - New Musical Express, 8/2/15...... Bruce Springsteen made yet another surprise appearance at a private gig at The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, N.J., on Aug. 2, performing with his wife Patti Scialfa and her brother Michael Sciafa's band Timepiece. The Boss took over vocals on the Van Morrison hit "Brown Eyed Girl," as well as Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Born on the Bayou," and assisted on rhythm guitar on the classics "634-5789" and "You Really Got a Hold on Me." In early July, Springsteen also played the venue with the Pittsburgh band, Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers, for a two hour show, then on July 31, he made an appearance onstage with U2 for two songs -- "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and a cover of Ben E. King's "Stand By Me" -- at U2's final show at New York's Madison Square Garden. "This man showed up... delivered," U2 singer Bono said, as the Garden erupted in cheers of "Bruuuce." Famous concertgoers that night included former president Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. On July 30, Paul Simon showed up to jam with U2 on his hit, "Mother and Child Reunion." - Billboard, 8/3/15...... On Aug. 1, former AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd pleaded not guilty to breaching the rules of his home detention sentence by drinking alcohol in a New Zealand court. The judge allowed Rudd, 61, to remain in home confinement on bail pending a November hearing on the possible breach. Rudd could face further sanctions, including jail time, if the judge determines he is in breach of his conditions. However, drinking alcohol would likely be considered on the lower end of potential breaches. Asked how he would be spending time on bail, he responded with a lopsided grin "Self-improvement," before his lawyer hustled him into a waiting car. Rudd's erratic behavior outside the courthouse has become a feature of his recent appearances. At one hearing he clowned around by jumping on the back of a security guard; at another he raised his middle fingers to journalists. Also he typically doesn't wear his dentures, sometimes making his soft-spoken answers difficult to understand. He was sentenced to eight months of home confinement on July 9 after pleading guilty to threatening to kill a former employee and possessing methamphetamine and marijuana. Rudd's lawyer says he is appealing Rudd's convictions and sentence, and the drummer's future with AC/DC remains unclear. - AP, 8/2/15...... Veteran film critic Peter Travers is reportedly fighting for his job at Rolling Stone magazine, as the magazine currently undergoes a tumultuous restructuring following a Nov. 2014 University of Virginia campus rape story that turned out to be bogus. Travers and Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner are said to have engaged in a heated shouting match on Travers' new status as a contract writer. "He was told that either way he has to be out of his office next week," one source said. One of America's most recognizable critics, Travers has contributed to the iconic music, politics and pop-culture magazine for over two decades, and his lively and blurb-friendly reviews have been a favorite of Hollywood studios since he joined the magazine in 1989. The magazine's managing editor, Will Dana, officially resigned from his role on July 29 after spending nearly 20 years at the magazine. - The Hollywood Reporter, 7/30/15...... Yoko Ono was joined by U2's Bono on July 29 at Ellis Island in New York City for an unveiling of artwork depicting the New York borough Manhattan as a yellow submarine and her late husband John Lennon displaying a peace sign. Lennon appears on the artwork commissioned by Art for Amnesty founder Bill Shipsey to thank Ono on behalf of human rights group Amnesty International. The organization raised more than $5 million in royalties from covers of Lennon's post-Beatles music since 2004. The artwork is on display at Ellis Island's National Museum of Immigration. "This is a very happy moment for the family," Ono said. "John had to fight to get here. John had to fight to actually be accepted here," she added. Also at the event, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito declared July 29 as John Lennon Day. - AP, 7/30/15...... In other Beatles-related news, Paul McCartney performed his recent collaborative track with Rihanna and Kanye West, "FourFiveSeconds," as he headlined Lollapalooza festival in Chicago on July 31. Paul wrote and recorded the song with West and Rihanna, releasing the single in January, and later performed the track at this year's Grammy Awards. McCartney also performed the Beatles' "Get Back"' with Alabama Shakes' Brittany Howard at the Lollapalooza show. McCartney performed 31 songs in total at Lollapalooza. Meanwhile, five unreleased McCartney songs are set to be included on new reissues of his 1980s albums Tug of War and Pipes of Peace. 1982's Tug of War has been remixed, while extras on the bonus disc include the previously-unreleased songs "Something That Didn't Happen" and "Stop, You Don't Know Where She Came From," the B-sides "Rainclouds" and "I'll Give You A Ring," McCartney's solo version of "Ebony And Ivory" and six demos of album tracks from Tug Of War. Extras on 1983's Pipes of Peace include the previously unreleased songs "Christian Bop," "It's Not On" and "Simple As That," "Say Say Say"'s B-side "Ode To A Koala Bear," a new remix of "Say Say Say" by U2 producer Mark Stent and "Twice In A Lifetime," which was originally released on the album's 10th anniversary reissue, as well as demos of three album tracks. In still more Macca news, Paul claims that he and John Lennon forgot "dozens" of potential Beatles songs before getting the opportunity to record them in a new interview with London's Evening Standard paper."There was always the risk that we'd just forget it. If the next morning you couldn't remember it, it was gone," he said of his 1960s collaborations with Lennon. "In actual fact you had to write songs that were memorable, because you had to remember them or they were lost! There must have been dozens lost this way," he added. - NME, 8/1/15...... After bringing rock's "longest, strangest trip" officially to an end on July 5 in Chicago, the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir and Mickey Hart have announced they will be performing and contributing to the Lockn' Music Festival on Sept. 12. Weir will perform as the Featured Guest Of The Day appearing in unique artist collaborations on Sept. 12, while Hart will curate a "deep rhythm experience" at Lockn's forest stage during two consecutive one-of-a-kind late night presentations, tuning The Woods with sound, lights, and vibrations and performing a third evening on the main stage with EOTO. Lesh is also set to perform with legendary guitarist Carlos Santana during his headlining set. The festival will also feature a celebration of the late Joe Cocker and a concert commemorating 50 years of Jefferson Airplane. - Billboard, 7/30/15...... As the UK's Labour Party prepares for a leadership election to be held from Aug. 14-Sept. 10 following the resignation of predecessor Ed Miliband after this year's General Election, composer/producer Brian Eno voiced his support for Labour leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn at a rally held in London on Aug. 3. Eno declared that Corbyn was his preferred candidate during a talk at the Camden Centre in north London, hosted by Corbyn. "I don't think electability really is the most important thing. What's important is that someone changes the conversation and moves us off this small-minded agenda," Eno said. Corbyn, the MP for Islington North since 1983, is leading the opinion polls in the Labour Party leadership race, ahead of rivals Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall. - NME, 8/4/15...... Details of the planned Mick Jagger/Martin Scorsese-produced new music industry dramatic series for HBO, Vinyl, have been announced. Vinyl is based on Jagger's initial idea of two friends who survive for four decades in the music industry. It has been turned into a show about struggling record company boss Richie Finestra, who sets out to revive his label by trying to find talent in New York's disco and punk scenes. The nine-part series will air on HBO in 2016. Finestra is played by Bobby Cannavale, best known for playing gangster Gyp Rosetti in Boardwalk Empire, the HBO series also produced by Scorsese. Jagger's son James Jagger plays Kip Stevens, singer in fictional punk band The Nasty Bits. Jagger and Scorsese previously collaborated on Shine a Light, a documentary of the Stones' 2006 concert at New York's Beacon Theater during their A Bigger Bang tour. - NME, 8/1/15...... Actress Valerie Harper was reportedly hospitalized on the evening of July 29 after being found unconscious backstage prior to a performance of her musical "Nice Work If You Can Get It" at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Ogunquit, Maine. The Rhoda and Mary Tyler Moore Show star is said to have suffered a "health emergency" prior to the show and was taken away by ambulance. The audience was informed the actress had fallen ill and would not be performing. The Ogunquit Playhouse issued a statement the following day, saying Harper was taken to the hospital "as a precaustion," is "resting comfortably," and will remain in the hospital for observation. The actress was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2013. - Tribune Media Wire, 7/30/15...... Cilla Black, a noted British singer and TV host who was a product of the Beatles-era Liverpool, died in her home in Estepona, southern Spain on Aug. 1 of as yet undisclosed causes. She was 72. Black was born Priscilla White in Liverpool, northwest England, in 1943, and worked as a teenager in the cloakroom of the city's Cavern Club, where her musical talent was spotted by the Fab Four's manager, Brian Epstein. Black had a string of hits starting in 1964 with "Anyone Who Had a Heart," written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and "You're My World." Both went to No. 1 in Britain, and the latter also charted in the U.S. Black also charted the Bacharach/David theme song from the 1966 film Alfie, and recorded several Beatles songs, including "The Long and Winding Road." By the late '60s she was famous enough to be known by her first name alone, and hosted a BBC variety show, Cilla. She later became a British television fixture as the cheeky, cheery host of the 1985-2003 game show Blind Date and heartwarming 1984-2001 reunion program Surprise Surprise. Black's husband of 30 years, Bobby Willis, died in 1999. She is survived by their three sons. - AP, 8/2/15...... Iconic Nashville producer and record executive Billy Sherrill, who produced hits for such top country acts as George Jones, Tammy Wynette, David Houston, Marty Robbins, Johnny Cash and Barbara Mandrell, died on Aug. 3 following a short illness. He was 78. Sherrill's first job was working for Sam Phillips' legendary Sun Records, managing the label's recording studio in Music City. The next year, Phillips sold the studio, leaving Sherrill without a job. His unemployed status wouldn't last long, as he was quickly hired as a producer for Epic Records, working with acts ranging from Jim and Jesse to The Staple Singers. Not familiar with the country genre as much as some of the other producers in town, Sherrill's style of production often drew comparisons to Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound," with his use of strings, eventually earning the "Countrypolitan" moniker. His first major success as a producer came in 1966 with Houston's "Almost Persuaded," which spent nine weeks atop Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart in the summer of that year. Sherrill composed the song with frequent collaborator Glenn Sutton (the former husband of recently deceased Lynn Anderson). Persuading George Jones him to move over to the Epic label from Musicor in 1971, his recordings with Jones resulted in classic hits such as "Loving You Can Never Be Better," "Her Name Is|" and "The Grand Tour." Jones would be the artist Sherrill would produce for the longest, working with "The Possum" through his 1991 album Friends in High Places. Jones' recording of the Sherrill-produced "He Stopped Loving Her Today" became a chart-topper and won the CMA Awards for song of the year. Sherrill also signed Tanya Tucker to the Columbia roster in the 1970s (producing her early hits) and served as producer on Charlie Rich's hit recordings for the label in the 1970s -- such as "Behind Closed Doors" and "The Most Beautiful Girl." Sherrill -- along with Norro Wilson -- won a Grammy in 1975 for composing Rich's "A Very Special Love Song." He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame for his accomplishments in 2010, and was also a member of the Musicians' Hall of Fame. - Billboard, 8/4/15...... Country singer Lynn Anderson, best known for her 1970 country/pop crossover smash "Rose Garden," died on the morning of July 31 in Nashville after a battle with pneumonia. She was 67. Born in Grand Forks, N.D., to singer/songwriter parents Casey and Liz Anderson, Lynn signed her first recording contract with Chart Records in 1966. Her first single for the label, "For Better or for Worse," a duet with regional star Jerry Lane, failed to chart. But her star would soon be on the rise, thanks to the success of "Ride, Ride, Ride," which made it all the way to No. 36 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. By 1967, she hit the top 10 for the first time with "If I Kiss You (Will You Go Away)" and was invited to become a regular cast member on ABC's The Lawrence Welk Show. Anderson continued to place records on the chart throughout the decade, with 1969's "That's a No-No" being the biggest, peaking at No. 2. In 1970, Anderson signed with Columbia, where her star would rise even further. Her version of Joe South's "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden" became one of the biggest hits of the era, hitting No. 1 on the country charts, and crossing over to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The exposure from that song helped her win female vocalist of the year awards from both the Academy of Country Music (of which she was an early member) and the Country Music Association. The hits kept coming throughout the '70s with "Listen to a Country Song," "How Can I Unlove You" and covers of pop hits such as "Keep Me In Mind." As the late '70s dawned, her chart success began to wane, so the singer changed her style -- recording more "outlaw"-themed music and adopting somewhat of a racier image. The overhaul proved to be a success, with 1979's "Isn't It Always Love" returning her to the top 10. In July 2015, Anderson released her final album, Bridges, which was her first-ever Gospel release. - Billboard, 7/31/15...... Buddy Emmons, a steel guitar legend who became a highly sought-after session player for country artists, died on July 29. He was 78. On an early session for Ernest Tubb, Emmons pioneered the use of the "split pedal" sound, and was a consultant for steel guitar manufacturer Sho-Bud in the 1960s. As a member of the Cherokee Cowboys, his work on Ray Price's "Night Life" remains one of the definitive licks in the instrument's history. Emmons remained with Price through 1967, by which point he had left Sho-Bud to start his own guitar company. Emmons can also be heard on many records outside of the country genre, such as that of Gram Parsons, the Carpenters and Ray Charles, and also played the famous steel riff on Judy Collins' recording of "Someday Soon." Emmons later spent 10 years playing for the Everly Brothers and was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1981. - Billboard, 7/29/15.